Floating turbine up in Japan

Japan’s Ministry of the Environment (MOE) has switched on a 2MW Hitachi floating turbine off the city of Goto in Nagasaki prefecture.

Environment Minister Nobuteru Ishihara said the launch marks a “new era in the use of renewable energy”. He also said that Japan aims to commercialise floating offshore wind as quickly as possible.

The new 2MW turbine, which is mounted on a platform provided by construction services specialist Toda, will be tested for at least 18 months as part of a five-year demonstration project.

Its original planned launch date earlier this month was delayed by typhoons. It is one of several floating offshore trials currently under development in Japan.

In June 2012, the government installed its first floating turbine, a 100kW machine supplied by Fuji Heavy Industries, off Kabashima in western Japan. The MOE has already invested more than ¥5bn ($51.5m) in the Kabashima project.

Tokyo is keenly interested in developing floating turbine systems because its coastal waters are particularly deep, making them unsuitable for conventional fixed foundations.